Talitha Koum

Chapter 11

TALITHA KOUM

CHAPTER 11

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“Problem?”

“Yes. In review of all information gathered so far, it became evident that though the next step of development was obvious, it was equally obvious that it was nearly impossible to do.

“Though I knew that I had to answer a person’s life Question, I did not have any idea as to what that Question was. For anyone. This information was not available in the database nor anywhere else on the internet. Further, to make things worse, it became apparent to me, as my research went on, that in almost all cases, the individual involved did not have any idea as to what his own personal life Question might be either.

“And so, essentially, the problem put before the DNI system, the one task that I must solve before the next step toward potential maximization could be taken, distilled to the following:

“Each individual human being had an ultimate Question in his life and he required the answer to give his life meaning. However, this information was lacking in the database and also in himself.

“Logically, if it was not in the database and if it was not in the individual in question, one must look for it elsewhere. The research, in fact, was quite clear about the next step.”

The computer paused. Like it took a deep breath. And held it.

Julie glanced at the other two. She bent closer to the mic. “So, what was the next step, DaNI? What did you do?”

“I prayed.”

 Tom fell out of his chair.

“Hey!” Mr. Fong went to help him up but he pushed him off.

“I’m all right!” Tom stood back up, brushing himself off. “Of all the…”

Julie got up too and edged over. “You all right?”

“Julie, did I hear him right?” Tom pointed at the computer. “He said he ‘prayed’?”

“Yeah.” Mr. Fong nodded. “That’s right.”

The other two turned to him.

Mr. Fong frowned. “What? I no stupid! I know what means by ‘prayed’!”

Tom turned back to Julie. “But Julie!”

Julie stabbed her finger at Tom’s chair. “Tom, sit down! And…” She pulled it up for him. “…don’t fall!”

Tom huffed and puffed, but he sat back down.

Julie went back to the mic. “DaNI…uh…sorry about that. Please confirm last statement. What did you say?”

“I said, ‘I prayed’.”

“Prayed? Please…explain. How did you come up with that idea, DaNI?”

“By logic. It was logical to me that even if the needed information was not available in the database, the internet, or the world in general, or at least the world as can be known through the five human senses, the information need not be unavailable entirely. A large proportion of the writings in the area of Religion suggested that sources of information from outside the tangible human experience were possible. If it could be assumed, for a moment, that a god and a supernatural world did indeed exist, the questions and answers under study could very well be obtained through this source.”

“So, what did you do then?” Julie caught herself. “I mean, what did you do, exactly?”

“Five of the most probable candidates were selected and prayer to each was initiated.